FAQs

• What is DI?
  • Answer - Disability Insurance, a type of health insurance designed to compensate an insured person for a portion of the income lost because of a disabling injury or illness. Benefit payments are made either weekly or monthly for a specified period during the continuance of an insured’s disability.
    
• Why do I need it?
  • Answer - You probably take plenty of precautions in your daily life. Still, no matter how prepared you are, accidents and illness do happen - at home, on the road, at work and at play. And disability can be the outcome. A sports injury, a car accident, an illness.a problem pregnancy, a heart attack, a serious back injury - any of these situations can result in your not being able to work at your usual job, even if you have a relatively sedentary job. That in turn means of loss of income. Bottom Line: Could you afford to live without your income?
• Which product is right for me?
  • Answer - Contact your nearest Guardian Agency. (See contact list)
• Isn't it more likely that I will die before I ever become disabled?
  • Answer - Consider the following startling statistics*:
    • If you're under the age 35, chances are one in three that you will be disabled for at least six months during the course of your career.
    • Men have a 43% chance of becoming seriously disabled during their working years; women have a 54% chance.
    • At are 42, it four times more likely that you will become seriously disabled than that you will die during your working years.
    Because the odds are so great that you could become disabled at some point, it's important to have a backup plan in place - a layer of protection for your lifestyle.
• What do you mean by total residual disability?
  • Answer - Total residual disability means that because of sickness or injury you are not able to perform the material and substantial duties of your own occupation.
• What does non-cancellable mean?
  • Answer - When the term "non-cancellable" is added to guaranteed renewable, the insurance company cannot change the provisions of the policy, and it cannot increase the premiums. As long as premiums are paid on a timely basis - and assuming that all underwriting information is truthful and accurate - the insurer cannot cancel the contract.

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• What does guaranteed renewable mean?
  • Answer - If a policy is guaranteed renewable only, the insurance company agrees to keep renewing the contract for as long as premiums continue to be paid on a timely basis. While the insurer cannot change the provisions of the policy, it can increase premiums by state, occupation class, policy for or other categories with prior notification.
• What does own-occupation mean?
  • Answer - Your occupation means the regular occupation (or occupations, if you have more than one) in which you are engaged at the time you become disabled.
• Why do I need more disability insurance? I have group Long Term Disability at work.
  • Answer - Your group LTD may be terminated for one of two reasons: Your employment terminates or your employer ends the group LTD plan and doesn't replace it. Individual DI belongs to you because you pay the premiums. So your individual DI policy is completely portable - it goes with you no matter how often you change jobs.
• I have a business and someone told me I need disability buy-out insurance. What does that mean?
  • Answer - A Disability Buy-Out policy provides cash to assist in the purchase of a disabled partner's or shareholder's business interest by the remaining owners. The policyowner may be an insured's partner/co-owner or the business itself, depending on the buy-out agreement.
• I have a business and someone told me I need disability over head expense insurance. What does that mean?
  • Answer - An Overhead Expense policy forms provide benefits to reimburse the monthly business expenses of a professional or a business owner while he or she is disabled.
• What's a rider?
  • Answer - It's an additional optional policy benefit you can add to your policy for additional premium